South Alabama baseball is off to its best start in 11 years following an 8-6 victory over Jacksonville State in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night at Stanky Field.

Lucas Ismaili provided the big blow offensively for the Jaguars, launching a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. The back end of the South Alabama bullpen combined to limit the Gamecocks (2-3) to one hit and an unearned run over the final three innings.

“I’d rather win with a little bit of sloppiness, than lose and look pretty,” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said. “We need to continue to get better. That’s a good club over there; they’re very, very dangerous offensively. … Six-through-nine (in the batting order) was good again. (Joe Sullivan) had two RBIs tonight and then Lucas with the big three-run home run. And we needed all of it.”

The lead changed hands four times in the game, as JSU went up 1-0 in the second inning, 3-1 in the fifth and 5-3 in the sixth. South Alabama battled back each time, however, tying the game in the third, fifth and sixth before Ismaili’s home run put them up for good in the seventh.

Jax State used two walks, an error and a groundout to score a run off in the eighth, but Gant Starling struck out Brennan Norton to end the inning. Starling (1-0) got the win, with Grant Wood picking up his second save with a scoreless, one-hit ninth.

South Alabama starter Carson Swilling allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings, then Austin Mills pitched out of trouble before allowing Caleb Johnson’s two-run homer to give Jax State a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Logan Wash got the first two outs of the seventh, with Starling coming on to strike out Kensky Thomas with a man on first to end the inning.

“Swilling wasn’t great tonight; they punched him a little bit,” Calvi said. “He needs to get better; he knows that. But I thought the guys out of the bullpen were good.

“Mills came in and got us out of a big situation (in the fifth). Now, he gave up a two-run home run, but he got the guy right afterwards. He bent, but he didn’t break. Gant made it a little bit interesting there, but got out of it and then Wood shut them down at the end. I have all the faith in the world in those two guys.”

South tied the game in the sixth on an infield single, a walk, JG Bell’s RBI groundout and Brennan Holt’s RBI double. The Gamecocks temporarily kept the Jaguars from taking the lead, however, throwing Holt out trying to extend his hit into a triple.

After Wash and Starling combined for a scoreless seventh, Jax State reliever Sam Maynard got the first two outs in the bottom of the inning. The Gamecocks went to left-hander Kyle Chastine with a pair of lefty hitters coming up, but Chastine hit Sullivan with a pitch and walked Will Turner to bring Ismaili to the plate.

Ismaili, a transfer from the State College of Florida, responded by smoking a 3-1 fastball over the wall in right-center for his first homer as a Jaguar. That made the score 8-5, and South Alabama had the lead for good.

“I got a fastball up and away,” Ismaili said. “We work on it all the time, just a good approach, especially on like soft(-throwing) lefties — go the other way a lot. And I just executed. … I couldn’t have done it if Joe and Will didn’t get on-base. So it was a big team win.”

Jax State went on top in the second on Drew Collins’ sacrifice fly to center, with South Alabama answering with Sullivan’s sac fly — which scored Ethan Melton, who had doubled — in the third. Brennan Norton’s two-run single put the Gamecocks up 3-1 in the fifth, but a balk and Sullivan’s second sac fly tied the game in the fifth.

Melton and Ismaili both had two hits and two runs scored for the Jaguars, while Duncan Mathews reached base three times and Sullivan knocked in two and scored one. Turner was 0-for-3 with a run scored, making him 0-for-19 to start the season, though he has walked eight times and driven in three.

Jax State starter Will Baker allowed a run in 3 2/3 innings, but left the game with an apparent injury in the fourth. Russell Derbyshire was tagged for four runs in two innings out of the bullpen, with Chastine (0-1) tagged with the loss.

The series continues with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.